Studying net neutrality suggestions: Ministry

India’s stance on net neutrality was underlined under a fortnight after the FCC in the US, headed by Indian origin chairman Ajit Pai, rolled back its rules on the concept.

ET Bureau|

Dec 28, 2017, 07.15 AM IST

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FCC voted on December 14 to revoke the net neutrality rules that barred broadband providers from blocking or slowing down access to content or charging consumers more for certain content.

NEW DELHI: The government has said that it is committed to the “fundamental principles and concept of net neutrality” and is studying the recommendations of the telecom regulator on this much debated subject.

“Government is committed to the fundamental principles and concept of net neutrality and strives for non-discriminatory access to internet for all citizens of the country,” telecom minister Manoj Sinha said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

He said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had on November 28 submitted its recommendations on net neutrality, a concept which guarantees a free and an unbiased access to the internet, after a long consultation process, and the government was examining it.

“Trai has inter alia, recommended that internet access services should be governed by a principle that restricts any form of discrimination or interference in the treatment of content, including practices like blocking, degrading, slowing down or granting preferential speeds or treatment to any content,” the minister said. Trai has also recommended amending the license agreements to clarify the principle of unrestricted access given under the relevant license agreements.

India’s stance on net neutrality was underlined under a fortnight after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US, headed by Indianorigin chairman Ajit Pai, rolled back its rules on the concept, and since has faced heavy criticism and protests.

FCC voted on December 14 to revoke the net neutrality rules that barred broadband providers from blocking or slowing down access to content or charging consumers more for certain content. In its suggestions to the DoT, the telecom regulator though has allowed fast lanes for ‘specialised services’ and keeping ‘content delivery networks’ out of the ambit of net neutrality.

It has left it to DoT to decide the ‘specialised services’ such as tele-medicine that can be exempted from the purview of net neutrality. It clarified that this tag should only be applicable to those services where optimisation was necessary to meet specific quality of service needs.

It has also allowed carriers or internet access providers to use some traffic management practices (TMPs) on their networks to ensure quality of services, preserve security of networks, providing emergency services and for implementing a court order or government direction, as long as they are transparent and their impact on users is declared.

But Trai said telecom or internet service providers should be barred from signing pacts that can lead to discriminatory treatment on the web, based on content, sender, receiver, protocols or even equipment.